Remapping California

The Spaniards’ first act of cultural conquest was to replace Native names with European ones, erasing Native history from the California landscape. In a major initiative, we’re working with The Nature Conservancy and other university, state, and tribal partners to restore Native names to the landscape and to present an Indigenous perspective on our land through contemporary mapmaking. Our goals are both to honor California’s Native peoples and to cultivate a broader sense of connection to place. We believe that knowing one’s place in the world and feeling connected to it are critical to a healthy and sustainable society. We are implementing a pilot project in 2021 to create innovative maps and a rich array of multimedia resources to bring Native histories to life and reestablish a deeper relationship with the land.Our ultimate plans call for a statewide atlas of Indigenous California names. This project is especially timely given the national reckoning on monuments and names.